The Home Office and Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) have refused to apologise to at least 12 innocent asylum seekers who were jailed for crimes they did not commit.

       The men, from countries including Iraq and Iran, were all prosecuted for “facilitating illegal immigration” by steering their dinghies across the English Channel.

       Their convictions were publicised by the Home Office in a series of press releases that falsely labelled them “people smugglers”, and it has not publicly acknowledged the quashing of their convictions.

       The asylum seekers were jailed for between a year and three years and nine months in a string of cases that started in 2019, but were not reviewed by the Court of Appeal until last year.

       Judges have so far overturned 12 cases, with the most recent tranche of seven convictions thrown out on Tuesday.

       Recommended Convictions quashed for asylum seekers wrongly jailed for steering dinghies across Channel Priti Patel ‘misleading’ public by calling Channel crossings illegal after court rules asylum seekers not committing crime Home Office triggered unlawful prosecutions by hunting down asylum seekers who steered Channel boats Court of Appeal finds Channel boat crossings by asylum seekers not illegal as convictions quashed

       The Court of Appeal is expected to quash more convictions, after identifying a fundamental “error of law” that originated in the Home Office, then spread to prosecutors and the courts.

       The Home Office has not publicised the judgments, with Priti Patel continuing to label all Channel crossings “illegal” despite the findings.

       Asked whether it would apologise to the 12 asylum seekers who were wrongly jailed and falsely smeared as “people smugglers”, the Home Office said: “We must do all we can to prevent the further tragic loss of life on the Channel and put an end to dangerous people smuggling across our borders.

       “We continue to work with the CPS and National Crime Agency to crack down on and prosecute smugglers who risk lives for profit. These cruel people could face life sentences under our Nationality and Borders Bill.”

       The asylum seekers whose convictions were quashed were not paid for steering the dinghies they travelled to the UK on, and were not part of organised crime groups.

       Some of them said they had been pressured or threatened to steer, while others took the helm to stop boats sinking and tried to call authorities and flag down passing ships.

       Border Force staff took photos and videos – seen here of acquitted asylum seeker Nima Bari – in order to capture asylum seekers steering dinghies, even though they had committed no crime

       (Home Office)

       The CPS did not fight the more recent group of appeals, but did not apologise for proceeding with wrongful charges in court or in response to questions by The Independent.

       A spokesperson said: “We won’t hesitate to prosecute those suspected of immigration offences if our legal test for a prosecution is met and against the law as it currently stands. Since prosecuting these cases, new judgments have clarified a very complicated section of law.”

       In submissions to the Court of Appeal, prosecutors said they had not been asked to charge asylum seekers for steering Channel dinghies until Immigration Enforcement started filming them with drones and referring cases in 2019.

       “The CPS accepts that a nuanced analysis of the legal implications of the various permutations of migrants’ behaviour, particularly where the defendant may have contemplated being intercepted at sea, or may have intended to navigate to a designated area, were not sufficiently closely analysed,” representatives admitted.

       “Immediate steps have been taken to develop updated legal guidance for investigators and prosecutors.”

       Lord Justice Edis, who has been the lead judge in all the appeals heard so far, found that the law had been “misunderstood” by the Home Office and CPS, and that a legal “heresy” developed making asylum seekers believe they had no defence to charges of assisting unlawful immigration.

       “They all raise the same point in relation to the meaning of entry into the UK for the purposes of the Immigration Act,” he said on Tuesday.

       UK news in pictures Show all 50

       1/50UK news in pictures

       UK news in pictures 12 February 2022 People in Parliament Square, London, take part in the People's Assembly nationwide protest about cost of living crisis

       PA

       UK news in pictures 11 February 2022 Romney sheep graze the grass around the dormant vines at Nyetimber's Manor Vineyard at West Chiltington in West Sussex. The herd from a local farm form part of Nyetimber's sustainability program and are utilised for vineyard maintenance, keeping the grass low, reducing the risk of frost, maintaining grass leys on the estate and saving the cost of fuel for mowing

       PA

       UK news in pictures 10 February 2022 Alice Wyllie looks at projections featuring details of some of the illustration plates during the press view for Audubon's Birds of America exhibition at the National Museum Of Scotland, Edinburgh

       PA

       UK news in pictures 9 February 2022 New arrival Upendi and mother Cheka in the bonobo enclosure at Twycross Zoo, Leicestershire

       PA

       UK news in pictures 8 February 2022 Workers move a crate containing Season's Greetings by street artist Banksy from a retail unit at Ty'r Orsaf, Port Talbot, prior to its journey to a temporary storage unit at an undisclosed location

       PA

       UK news in pictures 7 February 2022 Dog walkers enjoy the early morning sunrise at Tynemouth Beach in North Tyneside, on the north east coast of England

       PA

       UK news in pictures 6 February 2022 A Leicester City invades the pitch as Nottingham Forest celebrate scoring their side’s third goal of the game during the Emirates FA Cup fourth round match at the City Ground, Nottingham

       PA

       UK news in pictures 5 February 2022 Stadium staff remove a flare from the pitch during the Emirates FA Cup fourth round match at Selhurst Park

       PA

       UK news in pictures 4 February 2022 "The Nuba Survival" is a five-metre-tall statue of two skeletons locked in an embrace in Checkendon, Oxfordshire. The statue was created by local artist John Buckley

       PA

       UK news in pictures 3 February 2022 Kew horticulturists attending to the ‘Rising sun’ display at the Kew Orchid Festival: Costa Rica, at the Royal Botanic Gardens in Kew, west London

       PA

       UK news in pictures 2 February 2022 Protesters campaign against corruption in London

       EPA

       UK news in pictures 1 February 2022 Lorries queue for the Port of Dover in Kent, as the Dover TAP is enforced due to the high volume of lorries waiting to cross the Channel

       PA

       UK news in pictures 31 January 2022 Nelson Beaumont-Laurencia applies finishing touches to a sculpture of a tiger, commissioned by Manchester Business Improvement District to celebrate the Chinese New Year, is unveiled in St Ann’s Square

       PA

       UK news in pictures 30 January 2022 A house on Overhill terrace in Gateshead, lost its roof on 29 January after strong winds from Storm Malik battered northern parts of the UK

       PA

       UK news in pictures 29 January 2022 A newly painted bicycle sign is seen on the middle of the road at Westminster Bridge, as the new Highway Code rules start today together with giving pedestrians priority at junctions

       Reuters

       UK news in pictures 28 January 2022 School children take part in a rally in support of British Sign Language becoming a recognised language in the UK, outside the Houses of Parliament, Westminster, as the British Sign Language Private Members’ Bill, introduced by Rosie Cooper MP, reaches its second reading in the House

       PA

       UK news in pictures 27 January 2022 A rare six-week-old southern white rhino calf called Zawadi, explores her paddock for the first time at Africa Alive! in Lowestoft

       PA

       UK news in pictures 26 January 2022 British Prime Minister Boris Johnson jogs with his dog Dilyn, in London

       REUTERS

       UK news in pictures 25 January 2022 A member of staff looks at Francis Bacon’s work ‘Second Version of Triptych 1944’ on display in the Francis Bacon: Man and Beast exhibition at the the Royal Academy of Arts in London

       PA

       UK news in pictures 24 January 2022 Rowers (front to back) Charlotte Irving, Kat Cordiner and Abby Johnston, on their way to shatter the world record for rowing across the Atlantic

       PA

       UK news in pictures 23 January 2022 A grey seal pup on the beach at Horsey Gap in Norfolk, as the pupping season draws to a close at one of the UK’s most important sites for the mammals

       PA

       UK news in pictures 22 January 2022 Participants prepare to take part in the Crisis icebreaker cold water challenge at Tooting Bec Lido in London

       EPA

       UK news in pictures 21 January 2022 Willesborough Windmill, a white smock mill built in 1869 is bathed in the morning sunshine as the moon sets behind in Ashford, Kent

       PA

       UK news in pictures 20 January 2022 A jet skier jumps the waves off the coast at Blyth in Northumberland

       PA

       UK news in pictures 19 January 2022 Britain’s Prince William and Catherine, Duchess of Cambridge, participate in a therapy session with individuals who have experienced the care system, during a visit to the Foundling Museum in London

       REUTERS

       UK news in pictures 18 January 2022 Surfers enter the sea as the sun rises over Tynemouth on the North East coast

       PA

       UK news in pictures 17 January 2022 Bonhams’ Danny McIlwraith holds a Nigerian polycrome carved wood mask during a photocall for the sale of the Jim Lennon Collection at Bonhams in Edinburgh

       PA

       UK news in pictures 16 January 2022 The moon rises above the Spinnaker Tower in Portsmouth, Hampshire

       PA

       UK news in pictures 15 January 2022 Demonstrators outside Downing Street during a ‘Kill The Bill’ protest against The Police, Crime, Sentencing and Courts Bill in London

       PA

       UK news in pictures 14 January 2022 Ecologist Emma Smart (left) and retired GP Dr Diana Warner outside HMP Bronzefield, in Surrey, following their release from the prison where Emma undertook a 26-day hunger strike during her incarceration. Ms Smart was sentenced in November, along with other members of Insulate Britain, to serve four months for breaking a High Court injunction by taking part in a blockade at junction 25 of the M25 motorway during the morning rush hour on 8 October last year

       PA

       UK news in pictures 13 January 2022 A TV presenter holds a copy of a newspaper outside 10 Downing Streetafter the Prime Minister apologised for attending a gathering of colleagues in the Number Ten garden in May 2020, while the UK was in strict lockdown due to the Coronavirus pandemic

       Getty

       UK news in pictures 12 January 2022 Fitness guru Derrick Evans after receiving an MBE during an investiture ceremony at Windsor Castle

       PA

       UK news in pictures 11 January 2022 A couple walk underneath an umbrella during wet weather on Westminster Bridge in central London

       PA

       UK news in pictures 10 January 2022 A jogger passes the Covid Memorial Wall in London

       AP

       UK news in pictures 9 January 2021 The sun rises over horses at Seaton Sluice in Northumberland

       PA

       UK news in pictures 8 January 2022 Riders compete during the Veterans Men's race at the UK Cyclo-Cross National Championships 2022 in Ardingly, south of London

       AFP/Getty

       UK news in pictures 7 January 2022 A dog looks out of a car window at the wintry conditions in Killeshin, Co. Laois

       PA

       UK news in pictures 6 January 2022 People walk through frost and mist alongside a frozen lake during sunrise in Bushy Park, London

       REUTERS

       UK news in pictures 5 January 2022 A skier jumps on the slopes at Allenheads in the Pennines to the north of Weardale in Northumberland

       PA

       UK news in pictures 4 January 2022 Freshly-fallen snow covers houses in Corbridge, near Hexham in Northumberland

       PA

       UK news in pictures 3 January 2022 Dean Morrison, 13, receives his Covid-19 vaccine from student nurse Anthony McLaughlin during a vaccination clinic at the Glasgow Central Mosque

       PA

       UK news in pictures 2 January 2022 Konastantinos Tsimikas of Liverpool with Chelsea’s Mason Mount during the Premier League match at Stamfrod Bridge

       Liverpool FC/Getty

       UK news in pictures 1 January 2022 New Year’s Eve Lasers, drones and fireworks illuminate the sky in front of the Royal Naval College in Greenwich shortly after midnight in London

       EPA

       UK news in pictures 31 December 2021 Competitors in fancy dress run across the Pennine tops near Haworth, West Yorkshire, in the annual Auld Lang Syne Fell race which attracts hundreds of runners every year

       PA

       UK news in pictures 30 December 2021 Sunrise at Bamburgh Castle in Northumberland

       PA

       UK news in pictures 29 December 2021 The Very Revd Dr Robert Willis, Dean of Canterbury Cathedral, looks at Becket, a six month old red-billed chough as he visits Wildwood Wildlife Park in Kent on the anniversary of the murder of Thomas Becket

       PA

       UK news in pictures 28 December 2021 Troops of the Household Cavalry are seen reflected in a puddle during the changing of the Queen’s Life Guard, on Horse Guards Parade, in central London

       PA

       UK news in pictures 27 December 2021 A pedestrian walks past a winter sale sign outside a John Lewis store on Oxford street in London

       Getty

       UK news in pictures 26 December 2021 Riders take their bikes through the snow near Castleside, County Durham

       PA

       UK news in pictures 25 December 2021 Patrick Corkery wears a santa hat and beard as waves crash over him at Forty Foot near Dublin during a Christmas Day dip

       PA

       “In each, the crown court proceeded on an error of law in that regard.”

       He said that asylum seekers who are intercepted by authorities in the Channel, or who are taken into immigration detention after reaching a port, have not legally entered the UK.

       A ruling on four appeals in December said: “As the law presently stands, an asylum seeker who merely attempts to arrive at the frontiers of the United Kingdom in order to make a claim is not entering or attempting to enter the country unlawfully.

       “Even though an asylum seeker has no valid passport or identity document or prior permission to enter the United Kingdom this does not make his arrival at the port a breach of an immigration law.”

       Judges noted that the government is attempting to change the law to mean that asylum seekers can be prosecuted for “arrival” – rather than “entry” – to Britain, but said they were dealing with the current law.

       Recommended Mayor will oppose Met chief who does not understand force’s ‘cultural issues’ Khan will oppose Met chief who can’t tackle ‘cultural problems’ within force PM ‘should recuse himself from involvement’ in picking new Met chief

       The Nationality and Borders Bill would also increase the maximum sentence for the offence of assisting unlawful immigration to life, as well as raising the penalty for illegal entry from six months’ imprisonment to four years.

       A government document said the new law “will allow prosecutions of individuals who are intercepted in UK territorial seas and brought into the UK.”